Slashdot Mirror
UK Police Implement Roadside Fingerprinting Tools
mormop writes to tell us the BBC is reporting that police in the UK have implemented a pilot program that allows officers to fingerprint drivers using a small handheld scanner connected to a database of approximately 6.5 million prints. From the article: "Officers promise prints will not be kept on file but concerns have been raised about civil liberties. [...] It is primarily aimed at motorists because banned or uninsured drivers often give false names, although pedestrians could also be asked to give prints if they are suspected to have committed an offence."
People like to go on about the US turning into some sort of police state despite the fact that there haven't really been open moves in that direction. What's the worst Americans have seen? More thorough searches at airports? There are too many who vehemently and vocally oppose that sort of thing for it to gain real traction. Interestingly, it seems to be Europe where we're seeing burgeoning police states. Case in point: the United Kingdom.
I think part of the problem is that the socialist governments of Europe tend to think it's their responsibility to watch over the citizens. Individual freedoms are irrelevant when it's for the greater good. I've seen public safety materials which essentially depict the citizens as children who the parent, government, needs to watch over.
If the US starts heading in that same direction it's because the citizens demand it. They want to be absolved of personal responsibility and instead demand the government watch over them. Either that, or they'll be too obsessed with self-indulgence to bother with being responsible for anything. I'm sure there are many in government who look forward to this. The US is already almost at that point, but I think it's harder to stop something when it's the government forcing it on the people.